It's Too Dark for I See
by murderofonerose
Summary: Arthur is sure. Or is he? Warning, contains Ford/Arthur slash.


**Warning: **Contains slash**  
Pairing: **Ford/Arthur  
**Words: **2109  
**Disclaimer:** Is it really necessary to point out that I am not Douglas Adams? Is that what people really need? (I'm not even English and I don't even look like a Douglas.)

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**It's Too Dark for "I See"  
**

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"Are you _sure_ you wouldn't be more comfortable on the bed?"

Arthur groaned and pressed his face into the pillow. It was the third time Ford had asked in the past five minutes since the lights had turned off with a quiet _Share and enjoy_.

"Yes," he replied in a slightly muffled voice. "I'm sure."

He wasn't, really. It was a little cold, despite the pile of blankets pilfered from a nearby supply closet, and his back was probably going to feel very stiff in the morning. Arthur wished again that he could go back to his own cabin, but he'd got up for a midnight snack and returned to find it had disappeared – some sort of hiccough in the Improbability Drive, Eddie had told him, nothing to worry about and it'd sort itself out in a few hours.

Meanwhile, Arthur was tired. He just wanted to get some rest. And he knew from the countless evenings that Ford had ended up passing out on his sofa back on Earth that the Betelgeusian rolled over a lot in his sleep, because more often then not Arthur had found him the next morning on the floor beside the sofa. Or, on a few occasions, actually under the coffee table.

A few moments passed in silence.

"Positive?" Ford asked.

Arthur sat up. "Ford," he said firmly, addressing the two blue glints he could vaguely make out on the other side of the room, "I appreciate the offer. Really. But if we were to share a bed I'd end up staying awake all night."

There was another pause.

"Really?"

"Yes," he snapped, "because you'd probably end up kicking me every few minutes."

"… Ah."

Was it Arthur's imagination or did Ford sound disappointed? No, probably nothing.

"You know," Ford said, his tone almost, but not quite, reproachful, "when I invited you to sleep in here this wasn't exactly what I had in mind."

"Well I'm sorry to be a bother," Arthur huffed, "but you _did_ invite me."

He heard sheets rustling, then bare feet on the floor. For a moment he couldn't place where his friend was in the room, then nearly jumped out of his skin when he realized that Ford was crouching next to him.

"That wasn't really what I meant either," Ford murmured.

Arthur was about to reply when he felt some of the blankets being pushed aside, and shifted uncomfortably. "W-what are you doing?"

"What do you think I'm doing? Lie back and shift over a bit, it's cold down here…"

He lay stiffly as Ford slid in next to him, pressing warmly against his side. Skin brushed against the back of his hand. "Are you _naked_?"

He could _feel_ Ford's neck-endangering grin, they were so close. "Yes."

Arthur's mouth was suddenly very dry. This was so far outside the scope of things he might have expected and known how to deal with that his brain had screeched to a halt, hazard lights flashing.

"But I always sleep naked," Ford continued, "so it's nothing out of the ordinary and therefore nothing to panic over." He pulled the blankets back over them, tucking them snugly up to Arthur's chin. "Is it?"

"I…" Arthur swallowed hard. "I suppose not…"

"Good."

As Ford snuggled up against him, it seemed to Arthur that the smaller man was throwing off an inordinate amount of body heat. This did help to make the nest of blankets more comfortable, but only made Arthur more tense.

"Ford?" he tried after a moment.

"Yes Arthur?"

This was murmured in low tones against his neck, causing him to clinch his eyes shut and try very hard not to fidget.

It was one thing to have the occasional odd dream about… well, about something perfectly inappropriate, which was probably something to do with having been rather without companionship since the Earth had been destroyed, a while ago now.

It was another thing entirely to find Ford stark raving naked and pressed up against him.

And anyway, that first thing had only happened twice. Well, maybe three times. Or four… five… perhaps upwards of twenty-seven… But that wasn't the point. Arthur had always tried not to dwell on them, just as he was trying not to think too hard about what Ford's proximity was doing to his body at that very moment.

"Why on Earth—"

"There isn't an Earth anymore, Arthur," Ford interrupted tactlessly, "and even if there were, we clearly are not on it."

"Why the _hell_ are you trying to sleep practically on top of me while naked?" Arthur hissed through clenched teeth.

"Because I'm not entirely sure you would want me to _not_ sleep practically on top of you while naked." Ford lifted his head and plopped his chin down on Arthur's shoulder. It was as though he was watching expectantly for some kind of reaction, despite it being far too dark to actually see one – though Arthur wouldn't have put it past him to be able to see in the dark. That sounded exactly like something Ford would do, just to spite him. "Do you want me to not sleep practically on top of you?"

"Yes!"

"Ah. You want me to stay awake, then."

"What? No!"

"What do you want then?"

"For you to not be practically on top of me!"

"I can be completely on top of you, if you like."

It was far too late at night – or was it early in the morning? – to have this sort of conversation. Arthur struggled with the blankets as he tried to sit up. "That's it," he announced, "I'm leaving."

"No, Arthur…" Ford threw out an arm and held him down. "First, where would you go? Your room probably hasn't turned up again yet, and none of the other sleeping cabins have furniture, so you wouldn't be very comfortable. And second, I don't think you really want to leave. I think you _think_ you want to leave, but that's because you're over-thinking things."

"I don't want to… to do anything with you, if that's what you're getting at," Arthur protested, still struggling. "I am one hundred percent positive on that point!"

This was a lie. He was actually only eighty-nine percent positive, but was trying very hard to convince himself that this was a mathematical glitch.

It wasn't terribly surprising that Ford was apparently inclined toward males as well as females. Arthur had suspected this for a while, in much the same way that one suspects that jelly could come in any color of the rainbow (and even a few that weren't included in it) and still taste basically the same. But to suddenly find the truth of this suspicion directed at _him_…

He did not want to deal with the implications.

"I'll sleep on the bridge if I have to," he continued frantically. "Or in the galley. Or even the bloody corridor, but I _refuse_ to stay here and let you tempt me into doing god knows what…"

"So you are temptable, then," Ford murmured, swinging a leg over and rolling up to sit on his stomach. He leaned down and stroked the side of Arthur's face in an attempt to be reassuring. "Shhh, don't panic. I'm not going to make you do anything you don't want to."

Arthur shivered under his touch, and was rather alarmed to realize that it was more of the good kind of shiver than the bad kind. But he was alarmed by so many things at that moment that he barely noticed.

One of the other things currently worrying him was that Ford was pressing a light kiss against the base of his throat.

"Because it would be," Ford continued, pausing every few words to plant another kiss, moving lightly up Arthur's throat, "no fun at all, if you didn't want to. But I know that you have it in you, somewhere. And I fully intend to bring that side of you out."

"And… And then what?" Arthur asked faintly. His breaths were coming in shaky gasps and he could no longer deny to himself that this was Ford, _Ford_, resting warmly on top of him and asking… offering… what?

Even if there was some tiny, usually ignored part of him that wanted this, he couldn't just give in. Couldn't just allow himself to be seduced by a close friend, no matter how much of a habit Ford had of breaking all kinds of rules and getting away with doing so.

Not, at any rate, without a very, very good reason.

"Say you manage to bring out some never-before-seen part of me. What would you do with it afterwards? Put it back where you found it? Wake up the next morning and act like all this was no big deal? B-because if you're suggesting… anything along the lines of what I think you're suggesting, that _would_ be a big deal. A _very_ big deal. And I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that, on any level."

Ford paused, their mouths mere inches apart. "Is it really so complicated as all that?"

"Yes," Arthur replied, hoping vaguely that this would be enough to make Ford back off.

Except, a very annoying part of him was gradually coming to decide that it liked feeling Ford pressed so close, and the way his breath came and went like waves on a beach against Arthur's lips, and that it would in fact be a terrible tragedy if he went away now.

_Traitor_, Arthur thought in his own general direction.

"Ah." Ford sighed and propped himself up on his elbows. "I was afraid it might be."

"Were you?" Arthur replied in a slightly strangled-sounding voice. The shifting around involved in Ford's recent movements were not doing the beleaguered human any favors.

"Oh yes. One has to take the possibility into account on occasion. But," he added smoothly, "I'm game to try something new if you are."

Arthur blinked. "The new for you being…?"

"Something complicated, of course."

"I… see…" But he didn't, really. The thing about being seduced by a friend, thought Arthur – not that this had ever happened before – was that chance might have it that it would turn out to be a terrible idea, and then he'd be out a friend. And he didn't really have many of those to spare at the moment.

He… had Ford. And that was it. Oh sure, there were Zaphod and Trillian, but they were really more just acquaintances. In a pinch, Arthur was perfectly confident in expecting that Zaphod would leave him to die in order to save his own skin. Trillian might make some sort of attempt out of a sense of solidarity, given that they were the last of the species. Ford, on the other hand, would throw him a towel as consistently has he had been for god only knew how long at this point.

Or maybe it all hinged on what Ford was aiming for. Maybe it wasn't _too_ bad a potentially terrible idea, and their friendship could conceivably recover from it in the morning.

"Um, what exactly do you mean, 'complicated'?" Arthur asked nervously. "Because this is, er, rather a lot to take in all at once, and I'm not sure…"

His breath hitched as Ford gave a low chuckle, stirring the air just at Arthur's lips.

"I'm sure," Ford murmured. "But all I'm asking for is a kiss and to come to bed like a sensible person. We can see about anything else after a good night's sleep. All right?"

It did sound quite tempting. Still, Arthur was quite surprised when he opened his mouth to ask for a bit more clarification than that and all that came out was a small sigh.

Then Ford's lips were pressed against his and Arthur, god help him, knew that he would say yes to just about anything.

"Oh," he breathed when Ford finally pulled away. "Oh, I… I see…" He wasn't sure if that answered Ford's question, but he'd rather forgotten what they question was at this point. And it was only fair, seeing as how Ford hadn't exactly answered _his_ question either.

"The bed," Ford informed him again, "would be much more comfortable."

Arthur swallowed hard. "All right," he said quickly. And even the sensible part of his brain didn't object too much to this, because sleeping on a bed really would be much better for his back.

It was just a kiss, just sleeping. Ford seemed to know not to push him… and Arthur was grateful for that.

Next door, Arthur's cabin had already slunk back into place, where it went unnoticed until what passed for morning on a spaceship.


End file.
